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The storage is a core component in a data center.

A storage device uses


magnetic, optic, or solid state media. Disks, tapes, and diskettes use
magnetic media, whereas CD/DVD uses optical media for storage.
Removable Flash memory or Flash drives are examples of solid state media.
In the past tapes were the most popular storage option for backups because
of their low cost. However, tapes have various limitations in terms of
performance and management as listed here:
Data is stored on the tape linearly along the length of the tape. Search and
retrieval of data are done sequentially, and it invariably takes several
seconds to access the data. As a result, random data access is slow and
time-consuming. This limits tapes as a viable option for applications that
require real-time, rapid access to data.

In a shared computing environment, data stored on tape cannot be


accessed by multiple applications simultaneously, restricting its use to one
application at a time.

On a tape drive, the read/write head touches the tape surface, so the tape
degrades or wears out after repeated use.

The storage and retrieval requirements of data from the tape and the
overhead associated with managing the tape media are significant.Due to
these limitations and availability of low-cost disk drives, tapes are no longer
a preferred choice as a backup destination for enterprise-class data centers.
The key components of a hard disk drive are platter, spindle, read-write
head, actuator arm assembly, and controller board. I/O operations in a HDD
is performed by rapidly moving the arm across the rotating flat platters
coated with magnetic particles. Data is transferred between the disk
controller and magnetic platters through the read-write (R/W) head which is
attached to the arm. Data can be recorded and erased on magnetic platters
any number of times.

Platter: A typical HDD consists of one or more flat circular disks called
platters. The data is recorded on these platters in binary codes (0s and 1s).
The set of rotating platters is sealed in a case, called Head Disk Assembly
(HDA). A platter is a rigid, round disk coated with magnetic material on both
surfaces (top and bottom). The data is encoded by polarizing the magnetic
area, or domains, of the disk surface. Data can be written to or read from
both surfaces of the platter. The number of platters and the storage capacity
of each platter determine the total capacity of the drive.

Spindle: A spindle connects all the platters and is connected to a motor. The
motor of the spindle rotates with a constant speed. The disk platter spins at
a speed of several thousands of revolutions per minute (rpm). Common
spindle speeds are 5,400 rpm, 7,200 rpm, 10,000 rpm, and 15,000 rpm. The
speed of the platter is increasing with improvements in technology; although,
the extent to which it can be improved is limited.

Read/Write Head: Read/Write (R/W) heads ,read and write data from or to
platters. Drives have two R/W heads per platter, one for each surface of the
platter. The R/W head changes the magnetic polarization on the surface of
the platter when writing data. While reading data, the head detects the
magnetic polarization on the surface of the platter. During reads and writes,
the R/W head senses the magnetic polarization and never touches the
surface of the platter. When the spindle is rotating, there is a microscopic air
gap maintained between the R/W heads and the platters, known as the head
flying height. This air gap is removed when the spindle stops rotating and the
R/W head rests on a special area on the platter near the spindle. This area is
called the landing zone. The landing zone is coated with a lubricant to reduce
friction between the head and the platter. The logic on the disk drive ensures
that heads are moved to the landing zone before they touch the surface. If
the drive malfunctions and the R/W head accidentally touches the surface of
the platter outside the landing zone, a head crash occurs. In a head crash,
the magnetic coating on the platter is scratched and may cause damage to
the R/W head. A head crash generally results in data loss.

Actuator Arm Assembly: R/W heads are mounted on the actuator arm
assembly, which positions the R/W head at the location on the platter where
the data needs to be written or read. The R/W heads for all platters on a
drive are attached to one actuator arm assembly and move across the
platters simultaneously.

Drive Controller Board: The controller is a printed circuit board, mounted


at the bottom of a disk drive. It consists of a microprocessor, internal
memory, circuitry, and firmware. The firmware controls the power to the
spindle motor and the speed of the motor. It also manages the
communication between the drive and the host. In addition, it controls the
R/W operations by moving the actuator arm and switching between different
R/W heads, and performs the optimization of data access.
Data on the disk is recorded on tracks, which are concentric rings on the
platter around the spindle. The tracks are numbered, starting from zero, from
the outer edge of the platter. The number of tracks per inch (TPI) on the
platter (or the track density) measures how tightly the tracks are packed on
a platter.

Each track is divided into smaller units called sectors. A sector is the
smallest, individually addressable unit of storage. The track and sector
structure is written on the platter by the drive manufacturer using a low-level
formatting operation. The number of sectors per track varies according to
the drive type. The first personal computer disks had 17 sectors per track.
Recent disks have a much larger number of sectors on a single track. There
can be thousands of tracks on a platter, depending on the physical
dimensions and recording density of the platter.

Typically, a sector holds 512 bytes of user data; although, some disks can be
formatted with larger sector sizes. In addition to user data, a sector also
stores other information, such as the sector number, head number or platter
number, and track number. This information helps the controller to locate the
data on the drive.

A cylinder is a set of identical tracks on both surfaces of each drive platter.


The location of R/W heads is referred to by the cylinder number, not by the
track number.
Earlier drives used physical addresses consisting of the cylinder, head, &
sector (CHS) number to refer to specific locations on the disk, and the host
operating system had to be aware of the geometry of each disk used. Logical
block addressing (LBA) has simplified the addressing by using a linear
address to access physical blocks of data. The disk controller translates LBA
to a CHS address, and the host needs to know only the size of the disk drive
in terms of the number of blocks. The logical blocks are mapped to physical
sectors on a 1:1 basis.

In the slide, the drive shows eight sectors per track, six heads, and four
cylinders. This means a total of 8 6 4 = 192 blocks, so the block number
ranges from 0 to 191. Each block has its own unique address.

Assuming that the sector holds 512 bytes, a 500-GB drive with a formatted
capacity of 465.7 GB has in excess of 976,000,000 blocks.
A disk drive is an electromechanical device that governs the overall
performance of the storage system environment. The various factors that
affect the performance of disk drives are:

Seek time

Rotational latency

Data transfer rate


The seek time(also called access time) describes the time taken to position
the R/W heads across the platter with a radial movement (moving along the
radius of the platter). In other words, it is the time taken to position and
settle the arm and the head over the correct track. Therefore, the lower the
seek time, the faster the I/O operation. Disk vendors publish the following
seek time specifications:

Full Stroke:The time taken by the R/W head to move across the entire width
of the disk, from the innermost track to the outermost track.

Average:The average time taken by the R/W head to move from one
random track to another, normally listed as the time for one-third of a full
stroke.

Track-to-Track:The time taken by the R/W head to move between adjacent


tracks.

Each of these specifications is measured in milliseconds. The seek time of a


disk is typically specified by the drive manufacturer. The average seek time
on a modern disk is typically in the range of 3 to 15 milliseconds. Seek time
has more impact on the I/O operation of random tracks rather than the
adjacent tracks. To minimize the seek time, data can be written to only a
subset of the available cylinders. This results in lower usable capacity than
the actual capacity of the drive. For example, a 500-GB disk drive is set up to
use only the first 40 percent of the cylinders and is effectively treated as a
200-GB drive. This is known as short-stroking the drive.

To access data, theactuator arm moves the R/W head over the platter to a
particular track while the platter spins to position the requested sector under
the R/W head. The time taken by the platter to rotate and position the data
under the R/W head is called rotational latency. This latency depends on the
rotation speed of the spindle and is measured in milliseconds. The average
rotational latency is one-half of the time taken for a full rotation. Similar to
the seek time, rotational latency has more impact on the reading/writing of
random sectors on the disk than on the same operations on adjacent
sectors.Average rotational latency is approximately 5.5 msfor a 5,400-rpm
drive, and around 2.0 msfor a 15,000-rpm (or 250-rps revolution per second)
drive as shown here. Av. rotational latency for 15K rpm or 250 rps(15000/60)
drive is = (1/2)/250=2 milliseconds.
The data transfer rate(also called transfer rate) refers to the average amount
of data per unit time that the drive can deliver to the HBA. In a read
operation, the data first moves from disk platters to R/W heads; then it
moves to the drives internal buffer. Finally, data moves from the buffer
through the interface to the host HBA. In a write operation, the data moves
from the HBA to the internal buffer of the disk drive through the drives
interface. The data then moves from the buffer to the R/W heads. Finally, it
moves from the R/W heads to the platters. The data transfer rates during the
R/W operations are measured in terms of internal and external transfer rates,
as shown in the slide. Internal transfer rate is the speed at which data moves
from a platters surface to the internal buffer (cache) of the disk. The internal
transfer rate takes into account factors such as the seek time and rotational
latency. External transfer rate is the rate at which data can move through the
interface to the HBA. The external transfer rate is generally the advertised
speed of the interface, such as 133 MB/s for ATA. The sustained external
transfer rate is lower than the interface speed.
Solution:

Step 1: Calculate the time required to perform one I/O. This depends on the
disk service time.

Disk service time = Average seek time + Rotational latency + Data transfer
time

The average seek time = 4.2 ms (given).

The rotational latency is half the time taken for a full rotation. Since the
rotation speed is

15,000 RPM, one rotation takes 60 / 15000 seconds. Therefore, the time
taken for half a

rotation is 0.5 x (60 / 15000) = 2 ms.

The data transfer rate is 80 MB/s. Therefore, the transfer of one 4 KB I/O
takes 4 KB / 80 MB/s

= 0.05 ms.

Therefore, disk service time = 4.2 ms + 2 ms + 0.05 ms = 6.25 ms.

Step 2: Calculate the maximum number of IOPS the disk drive can perform.
Maximum number of IOPS is 1 / 6.25 ms = 160 IOPS.

For an acceptable response time, the disk controller utilization must be less
than 70%.

Therefore, the maximum number of IOPS at 70% utilization is 160 X 0.7 =


112 IOPS.

Step 3: Calculate the number of disk drives for the application:

Disk drives required to meet performance requirement = 5200 IOPS / 112


IOPS = 47

Disk drives required to meet capacity requirement = 1.5 TB / 250 GB = 6

The number of disk drives required for the application is:

Maximum (Capacity, Performance) = Maximum (6, 47) = 47 disk drives

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